Thread by @LetsGoCNote

If I were to develop a design channel it would be more holistic than technical.

Philosophies around color, shape, layout, perception, scale, feeling, weight...

Design can be too technical. I never resonated with that aspect.

I never cared about fonts, grids, perfects lines, etc. I just don't geek out about those little details. I love the overall holistic feeling, vibe and effectiveness of a design. I love that I can communicate an idea using art. I love that I can capture an essence in a logo.

I remember telling a co-worker once that I don't measure line height, I feel it out and her eyes went wide 😂

I don't get sloppy and it's not an excuse to be sloppy but alignment changes based on weight, color, context, etc. It's not as simple as "making sure it matches"

If design was all about everything matching we'd all just be wearing a single color all the time.

Good design, similar to any good science, is harmony in risk. You take these disparate things and you recreate a harmony that might exist in a whole organism.

You're landing on a feeling of safety and trust that this makes sense but also it's completely new and exciting.

There's always a tether to something familiar for a design that works. Futurism fails when you can't imagine how we might get there. What's the tether to now?

That's part of the beauty of Star Trek, for example, there were callbacks to the 20th century and expressions of how we've evolved since then.

Even alternate realities have to make some sort of sense in perception of what we understand about our reality.

If there's no relationship to our existing reality then we won't get it.

Our brains can dream up anything but the magic happens when we can "get it"

And that's because design is communication. I'd say any art is communication but design is particularly prone to being too technical in pursuits of that directness of that communication.

Think of costume design.

You can make perfectly crafted battle armor but what are you communicating with how it looks? Is it worn from battle? Or polished for a ceremony? Was it made by someone in world with certain tools? Or by a studio with unlimited resources?

Communication.

And even "communication" is too technical. What we're telling is a story...and immersion is important for buy-in. Marketers can afford to learn this lesson. It's not about making the words "pop" on a flyer but what is the overall feeling conveying? What story are you telling?

Are you saying that you need them to come buy a mattress to keep your store open, because it's cheap and you have no other options?

Or is this mattress finally going to get you the night's sleep that you deserve from all that hard you put into your life?

The best stories immerse you, and the human experience is all about story. Design is the process of discovering the support elements of that story.

So it's not about technical perfection because it's not about your ego and proving of your skills. It's about story, immersion, and connection.

So, yeah, that's the stuff I'd talk about.

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